A big part of the reason it’s taken so long for Range Rover to develop its first-ever electric SUV is that the automaker wants the next-gen EV to remain, first and foremost, true to its roots.
“The electric Range Rover has to be a Range Rover first,” Lennard Hoonik, COO at parent company JLR, told Motortrend last summer.
For this to happen, the EV must be able to do everything current Range Rovers can accomplish. For a start, it must keep up with the brand’s all-terrain reputation, including in deep water, and be able to withstand extreme temperatures.
It’s for the latter reason that the electric SUV is currently getting tested in hot weather conditions in the United Arab Emirates, where temperatures can reach over 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
“Range Rover Electric prototypes are currently in one of the world’s most unforgiving climates, undergoing the most intensive testing any Range Rover has ever endured,” JLR says.
The SUV is made to tackle 300-foot sand dunes, with its performance and efficiency “fiercely” challenged to make sure its propulsion system remains reliably temperature-controlled. And through it all, the luxury SUV must continue to provide “maximum client cabin comfort.”
JLR says the electric SUV’s performance currently “excels” through this stage of development, ahead of honoring client reservations in 2025. Last month, JLR said there were already 48,000 preorders for the Range Rover Electric.
While many details about the SUV still remain undisclosed, its 8,000-volt architecture does promise fast charging times. There’s a lot of speculation that it may have a four-motor setup, or one motor for each wheel, similar to the one found on the Mercedex-Benz G-Class EV.
And to keep up with Range Rover’s luxury reputation, JLR says drivers will be able to customize the SUV to their liking.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.